79: Man En slays demons in the mountains, losing an arm.

Three days later, on the training grounds of the New Town military camp, the selection ended.

Thirty young and strong guards stood out from among hundreds.

Li Qinghe led the way at the front, followed by the crowd, including five children such as Lin Luo. Li Qingfeng was responsible for guarding the rear, hovering in mid-air behind the group and scanning below.

The group arrived at the woods on the outskirts of Heishan. Li Qinghe first found some ordinary wild beasts, such as old wolves, wild dogs, black bears, wild boars, and some mildly venomous snakes, for the thirty guards to hunt together.

He watched from the side, speaking up from time to time to point out the beasts' fatal weaknesses and response techniques.

Several young guards, facing pouncing beasts for the first time, lacked courage and experience. Their movements were a beat slow, and they were scratched by sharp claws or knocked down by brute force, making for a thrilling and dangerous scene.

Fortunately, Li Qinghe's Divine Sense was always watching them. At every critical moment, he would flick out a streak of Sword Radiance to resolve the crisis.

As the team gradually went deeper into Heishan, the beasts they encountered became more ferocious. Based on the System's intelligence from previous days, Li Qinghe selected a wild boar Yao Beast that had just transformed from a wild beast and urgently needed a large amount of flesh and blood to replenish its demonic power.

He led the team, slowly approaching the vicinity of the location indicated by the intelligence. Not long after, a slight vibration came from the ground.

An exceptionally large wild boar emerged from the woods.

Its hungry eyes instantly locked onto the group of humans with vigorous blood and Qi ahead!

It let out a roar, its hooves digging into the ground and sending mud flying as it charged into the crowd! That violent Aura made the faces of the Qingxuan Guards in the front row turn pale, their palms gripping their weapons drenched in sweat.

"Third Brother!"

Li Qinghe simply looked up and shouted toward the sky.

Before his voice had even faded!

"Whiz! Whiz! Whiz! Whiz!"

Four dazzling golden arrows instantly descended from the sky! They were pinned with unerring precision into the four hooves of the charging wild boar Yao Beast!

"Awooo—!"

The wild boar let out a miserable howl, its massive body crashing to the ground. Its immense momentum caused it to slide and roll several meters across the ground, plowing a deep furrow in front of everyone as dust and smoke filled the air.

Only then did Li Qinghe lead the lingeringly fearful crowd closer, stopping six or seven meters away from the wild boar.

Looking at the Yao Beast's body, which was over ten feet tall, and feeling the terrifying power it emitted while struggling, everyone present gasped in unison. They looked at the Town Guardian flying in the sky with eyes full of awe.

Li Qinghe gave a thumbs-up toward the sky and signaled for the crowd not to get any closer.

Carrying his cold iron sword, he walked to a spot only two or three meters from the wild boar and stopped. Standing sideways, he calmly explained to the crowd:

"Look closely! This beast is massive with incredible strength; it's difficult for a Mortal to stop its charge. Its hide is thick and tough, and ordinary blades can hardly scratch it! But its weaknesses are also obvious! The eyes, ear canals, anus, and the soft flesh under its neck that isn't covered by stiff bristles are all vital points!"

"If you ever encounter such a Yao Beast alone in the wild, remember not to fight it head-on. Use the terrain to maneuver, attack its weaknesses, or make noise to distract it. Only then will you have a chance to escape!"

As he explained, he used his sword to mark various parts of the wild boar's body. Although the boar's limbs were disabled, its ferocity had not diminished in the slightest. Sensing Li Qinghe's approach, it struggled desperately, low threatening sounds coming from its throat as it attempted to gather the demonic power that had just appeared in its body to launch an attack.

However, whenever a demonic light flashed in its eyes as it tried to spit out demonic power, a streak of Sword Radiance would fly over and interrupt it!

"Awooo! Roar!"

The wild boar could only roar powerlessly, unable to do anything to Li Qinghe, who was right in front of it. This scene allowed everyone to deeply experience the methods of an Immortal Master. Seeing that the explanation was mostly complete, Li Qinghe delayed no longer.

With a casual flick, the cold iron sword turned into a blue rainbow and split the wild boar's skull! The struggling and roaring came to an abrupt halt.

He swung his sword a few more times, cleanly dissecting the wild boar's carcass into several large pieces, then directed the crowd to help lift them onto the simple stretchers they had brought:

"Carry it all back! We're adding to everyone's meal tonight! Yao Beast meat is highly nourishing!"

Li Qinghe led the way at the front while Li Qingfeng guarded from the air behind. Carrying their full spoils of war, the team set off on the journey home with a mix of excitement and lingering fear.

Just as they arrived outside the east gate of the New Town, they saw Li Qinglin looking around anxiously at the city gate. Seeing the team appear, he immediately jogged over to meet them.

"Ah! Third Brother, Fourth Brother! You're finally back!"

Li Qinglin's voice was filled with urgency.

"Second Brother, what's wrong?"

Li Qinghe keenly sensed something was wrong and stepped forward to ask.

Li Qinglin didn't answer directly but instead shouted anxiously toward the sky:

"Third Brother! Quick! Lower your Flying Shuttle! Take me and Fourth Brother up to talk!"

Seeing this, Li Qingfeng immediately ordered Lin Luo and the other four children to follow the other Qingxuan Guards and escort the Yao Beast meat back to the military camp.

He took out the Flying Shuttle and pulled Li Qinghe and Li Qinglin up. The Flying Shuttle rose into the air, isolating them from the sight and sounds of the ground.

"Second Brother, you can speak now. What happened?"

Li Qingfeng asked in a low voice.

Li Qinglin took a breath and said quickly:

"It's like this! Today, I was leading a few people to escort a batch of goods bought from Black Mountain Town. When we reached that Old Locust Tree Forest about an hour's journey from the town, a person suddenly sprang out from the grass by the roadside! It was a middle-aged man with a severed left arm! He was even wearing the kind of gray coarse cloth clothes you asked me to prepare last time, Third Brother!"

Li Qinghe and Li Qingfeng's eyes narrowed simultaneously.

"That man's face was deathly pale and he was extremely weak. He stopped me and asked: How much further is it to Qingxuan New Town?"

"Seeing him like that and wearing Third Brother's clothes, I told him:"

"Keep going straight, it's about an hour away. Then I asked him: Why are you wearing my Third Brother's clothes? He froze for a moment and asked me back: Who is your Third Brother?"

Li Qinglin imitated the tone of that time:

"I said: My Third Brother? He's a flying Immortal Master! He often carries a large bow! Upon hearing this, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he struggled to say: Heaven has been kind to me... finally... finally I've run into you... After saying that, his head tilted, and he completely fainted!"

"Seeing this situation, and considering he was wearing Third Brother's clothes and said such strange things, I figured it most likely had something to do with you! I didn't dare delay and quickly had my subordinates stuff him into a large wooden crate used for goods and secretly transported him back!"

"The person is currently in a wing of the Town Guardian Residence's inner courtyard. I've already had the best physician in town examine him. His wounds have been re-bandaged and medicated, but he's lost too much blood, his Origin Qi is severely damaged, and he has a high fever, remaining unconscious!"

After hearing this, Li Qinghe immediately followed up with the key question:

"Second Brother, when you brought him back, how many people saw?"

Li Qinglin patted his chest with a bit of pride:

"Don't worry, Fourth Brother! I know what's important! When I came back, I specifically took a detour and entered the residence through the back gate."

"As for the few servants who were with me escorting the goods, I rewarded each of them with twenty taels of silver on the spot and arranged for them to work in the residence. I even moved their families into the servants' quarters and strictly ordered them to keep their mouths shut!"

"I told them that if they dared to reveal even half a word of what they saw today, they would be offending an Immortal Master and would have to face the consequences! They were all terrified and swore oaths repeatedly!"

"Second Brother is meticulous; this was handled very appropriately!"

Li Qinghe nodded in approval, then took out a small jade bottle from his Storage Pouch and handed it to Li Qingfeng.

"Third Brother, inside this is the Water Element Spirit Liquid I collected earlier. It's best for replenishing Origin Qi and blood. Take Second Brother back first and use this spirit liquid on Man En. I must return to Heishan immediately; the full moon is approaching, and the Qi collection cannot be delayed."

"Alright! Don't worry, Fourth Brother!"

Li Qingfeng took the jade bottle.

"Be careful yourself!"

"Stay safe on the road, Fourth Brother!"

Li Qinglin also added with concern.

Li Qinghe said no more. With a flash of his figure, he leaped down from the Flying Shuttle, turned into a green shadow, and headed back into Heishan.